A Saudi government fund dedicated to promoting private sector employment for citizens has provided SR2.3 billion in support during the first half of this year.
The Human Resources Development Fund announced that around 220,000 male and female Saudis benefited from this support during the same period.
The fund's objectives include strengthening professional sustainability, increasing Saudi participation in the labor market, and achieving job stability in the private sector.
Through its various programs, the fund also aims to motivate the private sector to enhance the skills of Saudi employees.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has launched several initiatives to employ its nationals and replace foreign workers in various fields such as education, telecommunications, and real estate.
This labor policy, known as “Saudisation,” incentivizes private sector enterprises to create jobs for Saudi citizens.
The total number of private sector employees in Saudi Arabia reached 11.4 million last month, according to an official report.
This figure includes nearly 2.3 million Saudis, comprising 1.3 million males and 957,798 females, as reported by the Saudi National Labour Observatory (NLO).
In June, 16,598 Saudis joined the private sector workforce for the first time, according to the report.
As part of the Saudisation efforts, the kingdom began localizing insurance sales jobs in April, following a related decree issued four months earlier.
Additionally, the kingdom has restricted human resources positions to its nationals. The Ministry of Human Resources announced the second phase of a decree to localize consultancy services professions by 40% of the overall workforce.
The first phase of this decree took effect in April last year, mandating that 35% of employees in these jobs must be Saudis.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia plans to partially localize engineering jobs, with the decision taking effect on July 21. This initiative aims to Saudise 25% of engineering roles in private sector establishments that employ at least five workers in these positions.
